I had emailed members that I would offer my 32GB iPod Touch version 4 at the meeting for sale for $50. I hoped this might attract members who seldom or never come to meetings, but this did not happen.

Before the meeting, two people emailed me that they would like to buy it. Michael Marks (Mike) was the first one to email. Neil Raphel had also emailed before the meeting. He couldn’t get there before 10:30 and asked us to wait for him.

I had not thought about what to do if more than one person wanted to buy it. This gave me some time to think about it before the meeting.

Mike was at the meeting before I got there, and there were a few more people there who wanted to buy it.

I suggested an auction to decide who would get my 32G iPod Touch version 4. Thanks to Mike for agreeing to the procedure. Someone asked if anyone had information about how much it was worth. Geof Gonter said he had seen a 16GB iPod Touch for sale on the internet for $80

I had originally announced that the cost would be $50, so I said I would sell it for $50, and anything above that would be donated to NVRH for the hospital.

When people said we should have an auctioneer, Midge Lubot volunteered. The winner was Neil Raphel for $75, and we donated $25 of that to NVRH.

Midge Lubot and Katherine Farber before Midge volunteered to auctioneer.

Later Katherine ran the computer for the overhead projector while Stephen Farber led a discussion.

I was very nervous because I had offered the sale on our newsletter without asking anyone if I could do that. I asked at the meeting and we decided that it would be OK to allow members to announce Mac and other Apple and related items for sale though our newsletter mailing, and the editor could set the rules. You are all members.

So, as an experiment, we will accept brief announcements from you for Mac and other Apple items and related accessories you want to sell. Please keep it brief and include your name. If appropriate, include your email address. Include a “firm” or “asking price.” Or, if you want an auction, include “for bids starting at.”

Include your email address if you want to handle the sale entirely by yourself using email. (You may meet at the meeting to close the deal for convenience but do it outside of the actual meeting.)

If you want it to be auctioned at a meeting you must donate some portion of the money that is above the asking price through NVMUG to NVRH, and to announce what that portion it will be at the start of the sale. Also, send me the information before the meeting including the “starting at price” so I can include it in an email to our all our members some days before the meeting.

If there are any questions or problems with this please let me know so we can make improvements.

Someone asked about iPod Touch repairs. Geof Gonter said they have used Mission Repair, www.missonrepair.com for repairs for Mac Desktops, and for IOS device repairs and upgrades, and www.macsales.com for batteries.

Geof and Geof and Kelly Gonter

Geof said regulations cause an awful lot of waste in schools. Governments provide funds with rules that make it difficult or impossible for schools to sell their equipment when they become obsolete and are replaced. They cannot even give them away to other public or nonprofit users, so they just get stored until they are finally tossed away.

Bruce Shields said that hurts towns, too. He told about a town that bought a parcel of land across the road from a beach. There was a house on it which they used for a caretaker. Later, when there was no need for the house, the town could not sell it because of the conditions on the money used to buy the parcel.

Geof said large corporations do very similar things and we pay for it one way or another such as in the prices we pay for things we buy. It is a shame.

Jane Fuller showing her keyboard cover.

The cover keeps her keys clean and provided some valuable protection from a small water spill (testing this is not recommended).

Jane Fuller was very happy to finally be able to get back to a meeting. We were very happy to have her back because she asks interesting question which lead to informative answers we can share with you.

She asked about cookies; what she would have to do to empty them and what would happen if she did. Cookies are information stored on a website. It was agreed that it is not generally a good idea to delete cookies. If you remove cookies, you will have to re-enter information the next time you connect to the site(s)

If you want to delete cookies from a website there are usually instructions for deleting cookies for the site on the site.

Here is a good source for instructions for deleting cookies from different browsers, Macs and iPhone and iPads;

In Safari you can just go to Safari > Preferences > Privacy and follow the directions for removing cookies observing the cautions

Someone asked about Dashlane which is a password manager available on www.dashlane.com in Safari or look for Dashlane on your IOS device App Store (They are working on an iPad version but it is not available yet.)

Dashlane automatically stores all your passwords, securely encrypts them, and enters them for you. All you have to remember is one master password for Dashlane. You can also store personal information so it can enter it for you when a web site requests it. All you have to remember one master password to Dashlane.

To begin, it extracts all your passwords from your Keychain.

There is a free demonstration of the Premium version which syncs your passwords across all your devices and backs them up online for 30 days.

The premium version costs $20 a year and includes a WiFi backup on their web site and the ability to sync your devices so every password change is recorded on every device.

The free version stores information separately on each device, and does not sync your devices or provide an online back. You can still have just one master password.

I have downloaded it on my Mac and iPod Touch, but have not decided whether I want to pay the $20 yet.

Someone said, “Never answer email from a bank, or the FBI.” Also, be very cautious about other places that you do not recognize. If it is from your bank, telephone them to verify it.

Jane Fuller said PayPal will never add a hot-link in an email. Go to www.Paypal.com and login to manage your account.

Geof said, “If you get a notification that you have 6 notifications–trash it.”

Someone asked why they should be concerned about security for their Social Security number. Geof answered, “They could go to Social Security and change my ID to have my check go to someplace else.

There was a discussion about problems with some nationally known banks. I and others confirmed that we had no problems with North Country Credit Union, and someone else recommended another of our well known local banks.

Neil Raphel started a discussion about government intrusion into our privacy. He is probably right to be concerned. Public concern may be an important part of how we protect our privacy in our democracy.

My answer was that with hundreds of millions of telephone numbers, I could not think of any reason why the government would pick my telephone number to look up my past conversations. I cannot think of any reason for me to be concerned even if they did.

Someone else mentioned Google satellite information., and all the other information available from private corporations. There may be very little privacy anywhere anymore.

Bruce Shields said his daughter used a credit card to make a telephone call from Albany, New York, and within two days there were hundreds of pay calls all over the world charged to that account. He said the telephone company thought someone was spying on that phone booth with a telescope to get the number.

Geof Gonter reported that a new MacBook Air with the new Intel processor lasted over 8 hours with moderate use. New MacBook Pros will have it. The new Mac OS X Maverick operating system has new idle states which will conserve power and extend battery life, even when running on some current Macs. Geof expects the new operating system will come out sometime in early September.

Jane said she has a lot of things on in her dock and on her desktop, some of them with long articles, and wondered if they might be slowing down her computer and what to do about them. Someone suggested she could save information from web sites in the new reading list in Safari instead of on her dock.

Geof suggested running Disk Permissions in Disk Utilities at least once a month to keep them from slowing your computer down, unless you use one of the other maintenance programs.

The new OS X Mavericks operating system is now out for selected developers to test and improve. There will be changes, including both corrections and planned improvements, before the final release. I believe I read somewhere that OS X Mavericks will run on any Mac that is now running Mountain Lion (so I won’t have to upgrade my computer yet.)

Stephen Farber led a very interesting discussion of some of the more reliable rumors.

In the new Mavericks Safari 7 you may be able to use and save Bookmarks within the newer Reading List. We will have to see if we will be able to save other documents there. All rumors indicate that Safari 7 will be faster—and faster than Chrome. You may also be able to see all your cookies in the new Safari 7 preferences.

The Activity Monitor is rumored to have more useful information including something related to the operating speed. The information may explain why the new Mavericks may make your Mac faster and its memory last longer. There may be similar improvements in your present iPad (and iPad Touch 5 )mperformance with the new IOS 7.

There will also be a new iTunes.

There will be new Maverick desktop displays and graphic improvements - great eye candy.

A Small Dog Tech Tails reported new appearance improvements in iOS 7. The developer test version has improved multitasking that shows icons with the page of the suspended applications so you can see where you left off. It is easier to decide if you want to close an app if you can see where it was when you left off. Control Center is improved, you can just swipe up. The most useful apps are preinstalled in the new OS, including flashlight (which still has some need for improvement). Here is a link to more information at Apple.